


Strawberry Gelato on the Rooftop

by confusedandconflicted



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Andrew Minyard Loves Neil Josten, Andrew's coffee is unnaturally sweet, Apartment Life, Demisexual Neil Josten, Gay, I'm not ok, M/M, Neil and Andrew Share a Bed, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Canon, Rooftop Kisses, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, andrew is unfortunately very gay, domestic life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confusedandconflicted/pseuds/confusedandconflicted
Summary: Andrew and Neil navigate through life after Palmetto State.





	Strawberry Gelato on the Rooftop

**Author's Note:**

> Suggestions and critiques are appreciated!!

Being shoved off their bed at six in the morning was the first clue to Neil that today was going to be one of those days.

Neil groaned as he pushed himself up from the floor with unsteady hands, pins and needles scrambling up his nerves. As he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes, he saw Andrew push himself up to sit against the headboard in the corner of his vision. He glared up at his boyfriend, opening his mouth to protest the violent awakening, but stopped short when he caught sight of the look on Andrew’s face.

To anyone else, Andrew looked as he always did - stoic, bored, expressionless. But Neil saw through him like nobody else did. It was one of the things that Andrew hated about him.

Neil had pointed this out, once, a sneaky grin creeping up onto his face as he told Andrew he couldn’t hide behind his facade. _102%, Josten_, Andrew had said, a poor attempt at a neutral expression plastered onto his face.

Neil watched Andrew from the carpeted floor with quiet concern, observing the way Andrew’s eyes clouded over with darkness and the corner of his mouth twitched ever-so-slightly. He watched the way his body seemed to curl in on itself against the headboard of their bed, the way his shoulders locked up with rigid tension.

Neil had gotten used to Andrew falling into his own head like this, but that didn’t make it any better for Andrew to experience, or for Neil to witness. His trauma would attack him with full force, some unknown trigger dragging haunting memories from his past into center stage. On days like this, any touch would send Andrew spiraling, uprooting long-buried experiences and forcing him to relive every traumatic event of his fucked-up past, every single detail recorded by his eidetic memory pushing to be seen.

“Andrew,” Neil said as he stood up, cautioning his partner to his presence. Andrew’s eyes didn’t cease in their faraway look, but he flicked an unsteady hand towards the door, knowing Neil would understand.

Neil left wordlessly.

As he closed their bedroom door with a small click, he was immediately met by King, who encircled his leg and purred against his bare foot in greeting. “Hey, loser,” he said softly, picking up the furry feline and embracing him in his arms. He snuggled into the thin white t-shirt covering his chest with a quiet meow, earning a grin from Neil.

He headed into the living room, untangling a calloused hand from King and grabbing an Exy magazine from the coffee table before collapsing into the couch. It was a bright, obnoxious orange, something Matt had talked him and Andrew into getting a few years back when they were first furnishing their apartment. It was a wonder Andrew had let the garish piece of furniture into their apartment, much less allow Neil to keep it.

He murmured a soft greeting to Sir, who was curled atop the back of the couch, soft, even purrs rumbling in his chest as he slept. Neil sank further into the couch’s soft cushions and flipped open the magazine, thumbing through the flimsy pages, but his eyes were unfocused, thoughts still lingering on Andrew.

He hated seeing Andrew like this, overtaken by his past. He couldn’t help but feel guilty that he didn’t know how to help Andrew (curse his good-for-nothing math degree), especially on days like this.

_ Junkie_, Andrew had muttered when Neil had brought this up to him a few years back in college. _I don’t need you to fix me. What I need from you is to stop working so hard to fix other people’s problems._

But Neil couldn’t.

It was weird to think about what the old Neil, the one who was constantly on the run, constantly told to only worry about himself, would think about him now.

His newfound concern for everyone else probably had his mother rolling in her grave.

And his heart burned like hell knowing that one of the only ways he could help Andrew was by staying a room away from him. His gut twisted into knots of guilt at the idea of being useless to Andrew. What was he worth, if he couldn’t even do anything?

Andrew’s meetings with Bee helped a lot, of course. But no amount of therapy would ever erase Andrew’s memories of that man, the heavy presence pushing onto him, the strong arms trapping his body and restraining his desperate, clamoring hands, the lingering scent of expensive cologne flooding his nostrils, and the memories of his own voice, desperate and pleading as Drake relished in Andrew’s pleases and stops and it hurts.

_ Drake_. The name was a poison that burned in Neil’s mind, making his teeth grind with tension and his fingernails dig crescent shapes into his palms.

Drake had destroyed Andrew from the inside-out with gleeful eagerness, and the very thought of the disgusting bastard made Neil tremble with anger. If Drake wasn’t already dead, Neil would’ve killed him with his bare hands, squeezing the life from him just as Drake had done to Andrew.

But Drake was gone, and all that was left of him was the mark he had burned into Andrew’s past.

But Neil was determined to bring the life back to his boyfriend. One step at a time, slow and painful, the two of them would push each other on, past panic attacks and haunting memories and demons from their past lives.

And they would do it together.

* * *

It’s half past eight when Andrew finally emerges from the depths of their bedroom. The sun was just about to set, the glowing ember slowly sinking into the horizon, and Neil was still on the couch, watching the sunset outside their apartment window. As Andrew walked into the living room to stop in front of the other man, Neil couldn’t help but notice how Andrew’s figure was outlined by a golden halo, making his pale skin glow and blonde hair shine a smoldering yellow. Andrew cleared his throat, snapping Neil out of his daze, and with one last bored look towards his boyfriend, headed out the front door of their apartment. Neil waited a few seconds for the tell-tale click of a lock, but when none came, he took that as an invitation.

He stood up slowly, pulling and popping the joints in his back and listening to the satisfying cracks of his knees, before making his way to the freezer. Neil pulled out a tub of strawberry gelato, which was just about the only flavor him and Andrew could agree on, and snatched two spoons from the nearby drawer before heading out the front door after Andrew, making sure to lock it behind him.

He found Andrew up at their spot on the roof gazing out at the sunset, lit cigarette in hand. Neil sat down beside him, placing the red tub in between them as a barrier of some sort, a wordless action that promised Andrew that Neil wouldn’t come any closer unless he was asked to. Andrew passed the glowing cigarette over to Neil, trading him for one of the spoons Neil had in hand. For a while they just sat not talking, Andrew occupying himself with the sweet dessert as Neil took slow drags from the quickly-burning-out cigar.

It was quiet, but the silence between them wasn’t deafening, it was just… peaceful. It was a comfortable silence, one Neil knew only him and Andrew could have.

They watched as the sun made its way downwards, painting the sky orange, then pink, then purple as it sunk lower and lower beneath the surface. Soon the world was drenched in a dark, grayish blue, and stars began to materialize in the sky in lazy patterns.

Soon Neil’s cigarette became a stub, and he crushed the glowing end onto the rooftop tiles before laying down to look at the stars. He sensed a shift beside him, feeling the familiar presence as Andrew lay down next to Neil. Their hands found each other in the darkness, seeking out the comfortable warmth of the bond they shared.

They lay like that for hours, unmoving, hands intertwined and steady breaths matching in tempo. It was during this time that Neil was able to fully grasp how much of a rock he was for Andrew, and how much of a rock Andrew was for him. They depended on each other, lifted each other up, and loved each other through it all.

And Neil cherished every moment.


End file.
